Kriegsspiel—war-themed board-gaming as a form of training for army officers—was well established by the turn of the 20th century. But naval wargaming really came into its own when Fred T. Jane of Jane’s All the World’s Fighting Ships fame released the Jane Naval War Game in 1898. As shown in this copy of the game from the collection of the Naval History and Heritage Command, Jane’s tabletop training exercise came with scoring grids, ship-identification cards, target cards, wooden pieces, maps, and even wooden paddles to move the pieces around. It was, as one might infer, a bit more involved than checkers—a harbinger, in fact, of the Avalon Hill war-game subculture that would emerge in the latter part of the century.
The Naval War Game’s intended audience was professional, and the rules were layered, complex, and as reflective of the real deal as could be. “The ships are accurate models, and they have to be recognized by their opponents just as they would have to be in real war,” Jane explained in the September 1903 issue of the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings. Play was monitored by umpires. “Each ship is maneuvered by a different player, who captains her throughout the war. The admirals, till fire is opened, are allowed to give any directions they please to their captains.” And to all players, Jane was stern in his admonishments: “Any infringement of the rules will be regarded as an engine-room mishap.”